Coming to an end

Well, it's hard to believe....almost 5 weeks have gone by since we left on our work/play adventure to India. It's our last full day here in Hyderabad. Mammayya (uncle) from Oman just arrived today to see us and "B". We're having a good time catching up.

We leave early tomorrow morning around 2:30 am and will spend pretty much all of Easter up in the sky. If we should find anything else of interest to post of our time here, I'll put an update and link to it in this entry.

Thanks for reading! Until our next look-in on our next journey-out....

"S","L", and "B"

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4/25/2007 Update: The Power of Listening

Twilight cricket under the CPI flag

The other day, "L" and I were walking just a block from home. We passed by a group of kids and adults playing gully cricket. They invited me to try hitting the ball, which I did. So I finally took my first swing of a cricket bat ever! Luckily, the kids bowled easy on me, as I went "2-for-3".





If you look carefully at the top of the group photo of the children, you'll notice red flags atop two flagpoles. They're flags of the CPI....the Communist Party of India. You can just make out the bottom of the hammer-and-sickle adorning the top of the flagpole on the left.


Close-up of aforementioned "hammer-and-sickle", as seen from the roof of our house.

I don't fully understand the role of communism in India, but it's more prevalent than I realized. There are definitely some extremist views here, to be sure. But I don't sense communism is perceived in India the same way it is in the USA, where it's equated more with totalitarianism, atheism, and suppression of freedom (particularly for those of us who grew up during the Cold War years). Something I'd like to learn more about in the future....

The Power of Listening

Something happened today that I thought deserved a separate post...

I've met several people here who became Christians after growing up Hindu most of their lives. In a country where such decisions are not made lightly, I really wanted to hear their stories. I knew one such elderly gentleman at church, "H".

Today after service, I asked "H" if he could share his story with me. His face lit up at my request and he proceeded to tell me, with much enthusiasm, about his struggle years ago searching for spiritual truth while comparing Hindu scriptures with the Bible.

Right now, I reflect not so much on "H's" story (which I loved hearing), but rather his remarks afterwards. He told me how blessed he was that I was interested to hear his story in the first place. "H" lamented the generation gap that he senses keeps people from learning about each other. He appreciated that I, as a younger person, desired and initiated to learn something from his generation. As we parted, "H" unexpectedly gave me a big, hearty bear hug....a surprisingly demonstrative gesture for anyone in India!

I serendipitously took away a lesson from my encounter with "H" today....about the value of valuing others' life journeys, simply by asking to hear their stories.

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday. We went to a Good Friday service at 9:30 am. In the morning? Yep. How can that be on a working weekday, you may ask? Reason being....Good Friday is celebrated as a holiday throughout much of India. Most schools, businesses (including US ones, like Google and Microsoft), banks, gov't offices, etc. in Hyderabad are closed....including non-Christian ones. Some even have Monday off in commemoration of Easter. I can't recall ever having Good Friday or the Monday following Easter off as a holiday in the USA.

So today's weekday morning Good Friday service was full at SBF.

The youth performed a touching drama using the song "Above All".

Contrasts

Not an uncommon sight --- the rich and the poor, co-existing side by side.

Gas prices

I've been checking seattlegasprices.com from time to time....and I see gas has gone up considerably since we left a month ago (from $2.60 a month ago then to $3.00 a gallon now).

But your average Hyderabadian would drool over such a bargain. Here, it's 48-50 rupees per liter. What's that calculate out to? Let's see....

48 rupees/liter X 3.785411 liters/gallon = 181.699728 rupees/gallon
181.699728 rupees/gallon divided by 43 rupees/dollar =

$4.22
for ONE gallon of gas in Hyderabad

Yow.

Kids' club

Uncle and Auntie took me and "L" to visit a weekly kids' club that runs in a neighborhood they used to live in. A good friend of "L" oversees this club. It was quite amazing to see 50+ kids from the surrounding slums cram into a room to participate. Games, songs, stories, and snacks filled the 2 hours. The kids vascillated between being attentive to being disruptive. Still, "L's" friend and her volunteers persevered....their patience, drive, and compassion are most admirable.

A couple living nearby pays rent for the apartment in which the activities take place. The apartment also runs as a library and a homework drop-in for neighborhood kids. It reminded us of our own ministry back in Seattle, tho' on a slightly larger and more challenging scale. This club has been going on for about the last 10-15 years.



Many kids who attend live in these slums, overshadowed by an abandoned fortress/water-tower.


Over 50 children gather to hear stories and sing songs, all done in Telugu (native language of Andhra Pradesh). It's amazing how much they can do in such a small space.


Grace before snacks are served.


The older youth acted as "serving leaders" to the younger ones, passing out snacks to their assigned groups.

At least it's a DRY heat...

Dad moved the air conditioner into the living room yesterday evening and spent the night there on the cool floor. Now when Dad does that, you KNOW it's hot! I noticed it'd been feeling a little warmer myself, but I figured it was just me....'til I moseyed over to Hyderabad's forecast on CNN's weather site....



Nice to know it's not just me. `:-P

Necklace Road

We drove by Necklace Road along Hussain Sagar tonight. We got there a bit late, but were able to get in some last-minute shopping and eats at an exhibition they were having.



A sign advertising the exhibition (called Utsav Mela)


Even tho' it was closing time, one restaurant was still willing to serve us food....as long as we didn't mind sitting in the dark (yes, it was this dark when we ate).


"Oh....so that's what we ate!"

"Ambassador" sports a new do!

"B", our little "ambassador", greets more friends, brings more smiles to faces....and shows off her new haircut! Ammamma (i.e. Grandma) cut it for her..."B's" first haircut ever! Today, the pastor from the church who performed the recent baptisms stopped by, along with his family. We spent some time praying for them as well.

Birthday at Mickee Dee's!

Impossible just a few months ago, but today, quite possible....we went to McDonald's. Just opened a few weeks ago, the first McD's in Hyderabad is now reputedly THE place to be for "special occasions" here. So (despite "L's" protestations) 12 of us (family/friends) piled into van and scooter to celebrate the very special occasion of...."L's" birthday!



Happy birthday, Sweets!

Sharing at SBF

Dad asked "L" and I to share about our ministry at Parkway to the SBF church. Thanks to some last-minute help from friends here in Hyderabad as well as back in Seattle, we managed to put together a Powerpoint presentation to give a visual idea of what God's been doing at Parkway the past year and a half. Our work was almost thwarted by power cuts, causing us to arrive late to the service. Despite all this, the sharing went very well....it even got emotional on occasion. Many people commented favorably, telling us how touched they were. I'm not a pulpit guy by any stretch of the imagination (and I really hate microphones!), so if anything meaningful happened to be communicated, all praise to Him!

(Btw, we had to cancel the medical camp slated for this afternoon, due to lack of medical supplies.)